Wedding Cakes - Articles - Zimbio

Shopping for a Wedding Cake Topper

Wed, 9 Oct 2008 11:32:07 GMT

posted by Luvi

A wedding cake topper is something that is put on top of a wedding cake to finish it off. You don’t have to use the standard bride and groom wedding cake topper,

Wedding Cake

and in fact there are many other ideas that you may prefer more, such as a wedding cake picture of you and your partner.

If you are looking for a wedding cake topper, you will want to find a store that offers a lot of variety and of course great prices, so that you know you can find exactly what you need but at an affordable price. Here are a few of the top contenders for companies offering wedding cake topper selections that are affordable, and which you will want to check out for yourself.

My Dream Wedding

Whether you are looking for wedding cake toppers, wedding cakes and accessories, or even information on how to plan your wedding, the My Dream Wedding Company is one well worth going through. They want to make sure that your most special day, your wedding, goes perfectly, and so they are willing to be there every step of the way for you.

They offer various links to different companies so you can find just what you are looking for, and they are always updating their information so you can keep checking back to find out what is new and exciting.

Wedding Favorites

Another company that will be worth checking out, whether you are looking for a funky wedding cake topper or more traditional one, is Wedding Favorites. Their collection of wedding cake toppers helps ensure that you find the perfect topper to sit atop your wedding cake. Each one that they offer has been selected to be an artistic reflection of different styled weddings, so no matter what specific details you are looking for, you are sure to love something here.

It is important that you take your time when choosing a topper for your wedding cake, because this is going to reflect who you and your partner are as people and as a couple. Everyone at your wedding is going to be looking at the cake and are going to see the topper that you chose.

Remember that it is all your personal preference, so even if you want to do something humorous with your cake topper you can, it is all up to you and what you want on your special day here.

Wedding Cakes

Fri, 20 Sep 2008 22:59:44 GMT

posted by queenw

The grand finale of your wedding reception, your wedding cake should be delicious and beautiful. If you’ve already given some thought to your wedding cake decor, you probably already know that there are a couple of different choices for wedding cake decoration. When you meet with your cake baker, you’ll be faced with deciding what type of wedding cake dÃ©cor you want. How will you choose?

Well, if you’re familiar with the most popular types of wedding cake decoration, you’ll be able to easily choose which type of cake decorator is best for you. Then you can easily explain what you want on your wedding cake to your baker. Below are some helpful wedding cake decorating ideas.

While browsing though bridal magazines, you may have come across some wedding cakes with exotic flowers and wild shapes in a range of different colors. If you’ve seen cakes decorated in such a fashion, they were most likely created with fondant. Made from gelatin and corn syrup, fondant can give wedding cakes a look that is both stiff and silky smooth.
Almost any shape you can dream up can be created with fondant. You can cover your wedding cake with flowers, lace, swirly shapes, butterflies, you name it. Fondant is less tasty than buttercream, but fondant can stand up to warmer temperatures without melting, so it can be used on wedding cakes for outdoor or summertime weddings.

Buttercream Wedding Cake

wedding cake decorating ideas, easy wedding cake decorating ideasThe classic wedding cake icing, buttercream is made up of creamed butter and sugar. You’ve probably sampled buttercream icing at a birthday party since it’s used on all types of special occasion cakes. Buttercream is very sweet and can give wedding cake designs a soft and creamy look.

Less expensive than other types of wedding cake decoration, buttercream is easy to color and work with. But summertime brides beware, because the base for buttercream is butter, it can easily melt in warm temperatures. Because of the melting factor, buttercream isn’t the best choice for outdoor wedding receptions, but can be used on cakes in temperature controlled areas year round.

Chocolate Ganache Wedding Cake

Chocolate ganache is made from a mixture of heavy cream and chocolate. It is the richest wedding cake decorate option and is the only choice for chocoholic brides and grooms!

Though most couples still want white or pale colored cakes, dark brown chocolate ganache is slowly catching on as a popular way to decorate wedding cakes. Wedding cakes done in ganache look modern and sleek. The melting tendency of chocolate ganache and its rich flavor make it best suited for fall and winter weddings.

Marzipan Wedding Cake

Made from sugar and ground almonds, marzipan has a distinct smooth and sweet almond flavor. Marzipan is often used in wedding cake decor, but is also found in fine food shops as the filling inside gourmet chocolates or as brightly colored fruit candies generally seen around Christmastime.

As it is very malleable, marzipan can be formed into realistic shapes and can be usedto decorate your wedding cake with fruit or flower shapes like pears, berries, apples, oranges, small blossoms and roses. Marzipan is also used as the main icing on wedding cakes and can be formed into flower shapes.

Now that you know these wedding cake decoration methods, you can easily decide which type of wedding cake decorate is right for your wedding.

Calculating the Cost of Wedding Cake

Mon, 30 Sep 2008 17:28:55 GMT

posted by daddyslipdisk

The funny thing about wedding cakes is that they’re pretty–and pretty costly! It’s so easy to fall in love with a delicate, sweet, beautiful cake only to discover that the petite presentation will cost over $1,000. This sweet little number on the left was voted “America’s Favorite” and costs a mere $30 per slice! Wow!!

Sometimes trying to choose the right cake at the right price can be challenging. According to the Bridal Association of America, the average wedding cake costs $543. But some cakes can cost three times that amount because of the artistry involved and the ingredients. Typically, ornate wedding cakes with fondant icing are more expensive. And the bigger the cake the bigger the price. So when it comes to wedding cakes, how do you know that you’re not getting baked?

Consider The Basics

Wedding cakes are priced by the slice. So divide your overall cake budget by the number of wedding guests to convert it before you start shopping around. This will help you stay on track while interviewing bakers and considering designs.

How much is too much?

Based on a wedding with 200 guests, these pricing guidelines can help make sure your cake doesn’t cut too deeply into your budget:

For an inexpensive wedding cake, a smaller tiered cake in chocolate or vanilla paired with a sheet cake for cutting should be around $1.50 - 2.50 per slice.

If you’re working with a medium budget, a cake with 2-3 tiers in a standard flavor with buttercream icing and minimal fondant decorations can run $5 or $6 a slice.

Pulling out all the stops on a high-end gourmet cake with flavored fillings, fondant icing and elaborate fondant, gum paste and sugar decorations can run $10 or more per slice.

Regardless of the type of cake, be sure to ask how many slices it yields and allow for 1-2 slices per guest. You wouldn’t want to run out while serving your guests.

Way To Save!

In addition to the cake itself, other expenses associated with the wedding cake can affect the budget. Try these money-saving tips:

Use fresh flowers or fruit to accent your cake instead of elaborate gum paste and sugar decorations.
Skip or minimize the fondant icing. Buttercream or cream cheese icings are less expensive, and they taste a whole lot better than fondant.
Have a family member cut the cake instead of the caterer. They typically charge about $1 per slice for cake-cutting.
Save the $50-100 delivery with a cake that doesn’t need to be hand delivered or set up by the baker.
Provide a small cake for the bride and groom and a sheet cake that can be served to the guests at typically $1.50 per slice.
Get the most for your money. Square cakes are trendy, but they are more costly than round cakes. However, you can typically get more slices per layer from a square cake vs. a round cake, so you might just make up the extra cost there.
Cake fillings and nuts will really add to the cost. Choose a chocolate, vanilla or even banana and carrot cake instead.
Got a great cake idea? Talk to your baker about ways to create a similar design for less. Sometimes a few adjustments can make a big difference.
Ask for a cake topper and servers as wedding gifts.

Now that you’re better informed about cake pricing, get out there and select the perfect wedding cake. Once you do, might I suggest this personalized cake topper? Engraved with your name and date, it’s one of the many cake toppers at My Wedding Favors that would be the perfect finishing touch to your cake and makes a lasting keepsake for the wedding couple.

Cupcake Wedding Cakes

Mon, 24 Jun 2008 17:16:23 GMT

posted by sdevans927

There are lots of people out there, in my family especially, who will swear up and down that cupcakes actually taste better than regular larger sized cakes. Personally, I don’t know if they taste better or not, or if it’s just a mental thing about having your own little cake - but I guess it doesn’t matter too much. When my cousin got married a few years ago and wanted a cupcake wedding cake for his groom’s cake, our family wasn’t really surprised at all. It had been my first time seeing a cupcake wedding cake, and it actually went over pretty well. Turns out, that a few years ago, you really didn’t see bakeries offering cupcake wedding cakes as part of their portfolio. That’s because brides just weren’t interested in having cupcake wedding cakes, else they didn’t know that they could be done in the place of regular wedding cakes. But wouldn’t you know it, give it some time and now it seems that cupcake wedding cakes are really where it’s at right now. Here are frequently asked questions about cupcake wedding cakes to help you decide if they are right for you or not.

Why are Cupcake Wedding Cakes so Popular?

Cupcake wedding cakes are popular because they are so different than your traditional wedding cake.

Not only that, but cupcake wedding cakes allow each one of your guests to have their own personal little wedding cake. You can have them decorated all the same, or lots of different ways. Plus, cupcake wedding cakes don’t have to look like what a five year old would have at their birthday party, there are lots of contemporary and elegant designs for cupcakes. But perhaps the best part of all, cupcake wedding cakes can be a whole lot cheaper than your typical wedding cake. This is because they are much easier to decorate, but a little more time intensive than a regular wedding cake. Talk to your local bakery about pricing.

What about Pictures?

If you’re worried about how your cupcakes will look in your wedding pictures, then have no fear. Many couples will still order a very small traditional cake, such as one or two smaller tiers for their wedding photographs. The top tier of course will be saved for their first anniversary anyway. Then, the smaller cupcakes can be brought out and passed around to your wedding guests. Or, have your small wedding cake on display and then place your wedding cupcakes around the cake in a decorative way for some really unique wedding photographs.

Creative Decorating for Cupcakes

There are many different ways you can decorate your cupcakes to make them more elegant, whimsical or with a theme depending on the kind of wedding you’ll be having. For example, you could work with your florist and have a small bloom on each of your cupcake wedding cakes. Or, you could go with a new look and have your cupcakes sitting in edible bowls for a more elegant cupcake. Add fresh berries or truffles for a wedding cupcake your guests will never forget.

It’s obvious that with the economy the way that it is right now, couples everywhere are searching for ways to save money on their weddings. Cupcake wedding cakes are an excellent way to save a little money on your wedding cake to charm your guests without looking cheap.

See Wedding Help for more great wedding ideas.

Cupcake Wedding Cakes

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Food Network Lets Them Eat Cake

Mon, 11 Nov 2008 00:45:00 GMT

posted by yen03

The Food Network is an American cable network that airs series and specials about one of our most beloved subjects - food. The Network is viewed in 80 million households and by half a million people per day. It's seen in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Monaco, Andorra, France, and the French-speaking territories in the Caribbean and Polynesia. Canadians now have their own version, Food Network Canada.

Every Sunday night, the Food Network Challenge (which has reached franchise status and offers cash prizes big enough to remodel your kitchen) hosts the largest and most memorable food competitions around the world.

Here's a sampling of the competitions for the world's best cakes:

Wedding Cake Challenge - Teams vie for the bragging rights (and $10 grand) for creating the world's most spectacular wedding cake.

Spatulas and pastry tubes are augmented by high tech weapons such as Homaro Cantu's Class IV laser that sears edibles at 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and ink-jet printer that prints photographs on soy-based edible paper.

Disney Dream Desserts - Student pastry chefs create four desserts and a three-foot tall chocolate and sugar centerpiece as they compete at the Happiest Place on Earth for a $14,000 scholarship and an internship in the Disney kitchens.

Mystery Birthday Cake - Five top-notch cake designers are challenged by a client from hell whose identity and criteria for the birthday cake will not be revealed until minutes before the six-hour competition begins. (Colette Peters took home the $10,000 first prize in 2005.)

Birthday Cake Competition - An edible, rotating Ferris wheel is one of the memorable cakes created in this competition where six of the nation's top cake designers unleash their imaginations and test their skills as they compete to create the world's most outrageous birthday cake (and a $10,000 first place prize).

Other challenges bring together top-notch barbecue chefs, pizza makers, and more in a quest for the world's best culinary creations.

Celebrity chef hosts include famous restaurateurs Emeril and Wolfgang Puck.

Many of the Food Network's personalities have become quite famous, such as home cooking diva Rachael Ray (the star of the Network and host of 30-Minute Meals, sort of an antithesis to Martha Stewart). And, then there's Duff Goldman.

Shaping cakes with drill saws and blow torches, Goldman is known as the "Bad Boy" of the Food Network.

He hosts the network's latest creation (as of January 16, 2007), Ace of Cakes. And as one of the most sought after cake decorators in the nation, he blows away cake decorator stereotypes.

A former graffiti artist, Duff holds degrees in philosophy and physics, plays bass in an indie band, and studied pastries at the Culinary Institute of America before going on to the prestigious position of executive pastry chef at the Vail Cascade Hotel and Resort in Colorado. He now owns and operates Charm City Cakes in Baltimore.

His cake creations are as diverse as his talents and include a Harry Potter quidditch arena, a piece of rare black Wedgwood china made for Hillary Clinton in 2002, and many family dog tribute cakes.

Clients have paid $175 for a simple square to $20,000 for a massive, mechanized cake with edible moving parts.

Many of the Food Network personalities have interesting and surprising career stories.

Sugar Rush host, Warren Brown, left a career in law to open Cakelove, his specialty cake and pastry business in Washington D.C. (You may have seen him on Oprah or in Time magazine.)

Sugar Rush follows Brown as he visits restaurants, pastry shops and bakeries around the country, and then returns to his kitchen to cook a recipe he's learned.

Warren's own most popular cake is a three-layer buttercream with fresh strawberries, and his cupcakes are the all-around best sellers at Cakelove.

Here's a sampling of the competitions for the world's best cakes:

Wedding Cake Challenge – Teams vie for the bragging rights (and $10 grand) for creating the world's most spectacular wedding cake. Spatulas and pastry tubes are augmented by high tech weapons such as Homaro Cantu's Class IV laser that sears edibles at 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and ink-jet printer that prints photographs on soy-based edible paper.

Disney Dream Desserts – Student pastry chefs create four desserts and a three-foot tall chocolate and sugar centerpiece as they compete at the Happiest Place on Earth for a $14,000 scholarship and an internship in the Disney kitchens.

Mystery Birthday Cake – Five top-notch cake designers are challenged by a client from hell whose identity and criteria for the birthday cake will not be revealed until minutes before the six-hour competition begins. (Colette Peters took home the $10,000 first prize in 2005.)

Birthday Cake Competition – An edible, rotating Ferris wheel is one of the memorable cakes created in this competition where six of the nation's top cake designers unleash their imaginations and test their skills as they compete to create the world's most outrageous birthday cake (and a $10,000 first place prize).

Cookies, Fire and Ice (pastry and ice sculpture), Wedding Cake Classic and Ultimate Wedding Cakes are just a few more of the dozens of pastry and cake competitions hosted by the Food Network Challenge. Other challenges bring together top-notch barbecue chefs, pizza makers, and more in a quest for the world's best culinary creations.

Food Network, founded in 1993 and more popular than ever, boasts record-setting ratings in primetime and a top food Website. Celebrity chef hosts include famous restaurateurs Emeril and Wolfgang Puck. Many of the Food Network's personalities have become quite famous, such as home cooking diva Rachael Ray (the star of the Network and host of 30-Minute Meals, sort of an antithesis to Martha Stewart). And, then there's Duff Goldman.

Shaping cakes with drill saws and blow torches, Goldman is known as the "Bad Boy" of the Food Network. He hosts the network's latest creation (as of January 16, 2007), Ace of Cakes. And as one of the most sought after cake decorators in the nation, he blows away cake decorator stereotypes.

His cake creations are as diverse as his talents and include a Harry Potter quidditch arena, a piece of rare black Wedgwood china made for Hillary Clinton in 2002, and many family dog tribute cakes. Clients have paid $175 for a simple square to $20,000 for a massive, mechanized cake with edible moving parts.

Many of the Food Network personalities have interesting and surprising career stories. Sugar Rush host, Warren Brown, left a career in law to open Cakelove, his specialty cake and pastry business in Washington D.C. (You may have seen him on Oprah or in Time magazine.)

Sugar Rush follows Brown as he visits restaurants, pastry shops and bakeries around the country, and then returns to his kitchen to cook a recipe he's learned.

Warren's own most popular cake is a three-layer buttercream with fresh strawberries, and his cupcakes are the all-around best sellers at Cakelove.

To check the viewing times for these and many more shows, visit the Food Network online at www.foodnetwork.com.

Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author

Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2

The World's First Cake Decorating Video Books

For fantastic cake decorating tips, tricks and secrets of the pros, visit the Cake Answers website.